ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A group of mostly Muslim families residing in Barangay Kasanyangan, Zamboanga City could only break into tears after a tragic fire gutted their homes last July 24, leaving them nothing but ashes.
The late-afternoon fire destroyed about 141 houses, which were built on mangrove flats located near the coast.
Firemen had difficulty reaching the muddy village, since only foot bridges connected it to the main access road.
“In a just over one hour, the houses were destroyed and panicking victims could save only a few of their belongings,” Kasangyangan village councilor Alan Hanapi said. His brother, Tunku, is the barangay captain.
“This is really tragic,” Hanapi said in Chavacano. “Most of them transferred to the site when their houses were burned only last year. Their previous houses were located at another zone in this barangay called Kasalamatan”.
“Others were fire victims of a huge fire at the public market ‘ukay-ukay’ section, three years ago”, he added.
Fourteen people were trapped in the fire and were killed, but nobody has been charged for the negligence.
The victims have been temporarily sheltered in the covered court of the nearby Don Gregorio Evangelista Memorial School.
Several civil society groups have donated food, used clothing, cooking wares, and school supplies for the children.
“We don’t know yet where to re-settle these families,” Hanapi said. “We are asking the city government to give them construction materials (even not that much) since they are used to living in small houses.”
The city government’s initial plan is to place them in an abandoned transitory shelter for victims of the 2013 siege, but there is no light and water supply there, Hanapi said.
“We want them to return to their burned housing site so the parents can have easy reach of their work as construction workers, fishermen, fish vendors, seaweed farmers,” Hanapi said.
Two days before the Kasangyangan conflagration, an even bigger fire hit the coastal barangay of Labuan.
More than 400 houses owned by Muslim families were also razed, and the victims lost most of their belongings. Most of them survived, but their bancas and motorboats were burned.
President Rodrigo Duterte visited the Labuan fire victims last July 26 and extended them cash assistance. (Rey-Luis Banagudos/PNA)
